Hour 1: Rich Eisen Top 5 MLB Edition, Basketball Analyst Jamal Mashburn, NFL rules proposals

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0:33Rich Eisen:Colas brag. Probiotics give TED Talks. Then there's Mr. Pibb. No pitch, no promises. Just bold cherry bringing the flavor. Bold kick of cherry. Hey, yo, Mr. Pibb. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. It's time for baseball.

1:20Rich Eisen:The pitch to judge swung on and hit in the air to deep right and it's gone. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. today's guests, TNT College basketball analyst, Jamal Mashburn, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer, author Dave Ogleton, and now it's Rich Eisen. Well, hey everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show live on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN radio, Sirius XM channel 80. For those listening, I'm wearing an outstanding French blue button-down shirt. I say button-down. Some people go button-up. Oh, yeah, good quote. I'm a button-down guy. Point there. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial if you dare come in my direction because I'm wearing such a great French blue shirt.

2:13Rich Eisen:It's the way I'm feeling today. I'm feeling good. Looking good. Feeling good. You know what I mean? Thank you very much, Louis. Listen, we've got Jamal Mashburn on this program. Pretty cool, huh? Love that. We got March Madness resuming tomorrow night. Hubert Davis has been told to leave his place of business. The North Carolina Tar Heels basically said we're done here. Wow. So Hubert Davis is out. There's lots of rumors coming out of Kansas. Is it official about Bill Self? There's a lot of rumors that he's going to step down after 23 years there, but I don't think there's anything official. We're awaiting word on that.

2:54Rich Eisen:but North Carolina's head coaching gig is open and that might who knows cast a Carolina blue sky over the rest of this tournament and because they're they're not going to hold back there's also word that maybe they're going to be reaching out to the professional ranks to see if they can fill that spot but that's the latest Jamal Mashburn's going to join us the pro day in Notre Dame went down yesterday. Jeremiah Love had his day. Basically had it at the Combine, too. Ty Simpson's got his pro day today for Alabama. Albert Breer is going to be joining us in our number two of this program. And the dad fluencer.

3:36Rich Eisen:I have, as you know, the best dad ever signed here. Dave Ogleton, who's known as the top dad fluencer in all the land. He's got six kids. Good for him. He's coming for that sign. He's coming for the sign. You know, good thing this isn't the Philip Rivers show. Otherwise, he'd be dominated. He's coming in studio in hour number three. And then there's you at 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. Have a great power rankings today. I'm going to power rank the best Super Bowls I have covered for the NFL Network because one week from today, I will no longer be an NFL media or NFL employee after a 23-year run.

4:23Rich Eisen:So I'm going to be, I guess, if you were counting down the days, which is kind of crazy, until I'm becoming a full-time ESPN employee. Words I haven't said again in 23 years. Life is wild. It's crazy. And that's what's going down on today's show. And as I mentioned, 844-204-RICH is the usual number to dial, whether you're listening to us on Terrestrial Radio, Sirius XM, or watching us on various ESPN Disney-owned streams. How are you, Christopher Brockman? Rich, I am excellent. How are you, my friend? Tables completely set. Took me four minutes to do it, but I don't care. Atta boy. What's up, Jason Feller?

4:59Rich Eisen:How are you? Hey, loving your shirt. I appreciate you saying that. You are welcome. Right back at you. Oh, thanks. Okay. Well, I mean, it is Richard. Yeah. You're like Del Tufo. You're showing up in a Dodger hat and rich eyes and show gear. So good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson. What's going on? Well, just to piggyback on what you said earlier, did you know that button down shirts are generally more casual, whereas button ups can range from formerly casual. So maybe that's the difference. Did you Google that? I did. Yes, you did. And also all button downs are button ups, but not all button ups or button.

5:34Rich Eisen:All I know is I look great, but I appreciate the background information. Yeah, just in case. You know, buttons go the other way for women. I did know that. I did know that, too. That's a European thing. I also have to sit up straighter. Like the Susie? No, I keep leaning on my right side, and it's causing all sorts of problems. Got a little twinge back there? Let me tell you. Kelly's got a back guy. Hey, I got people. Yeah, I do. It's baseball's opening day. Let's go. Yeah, more importantly. It's opening day for Major League. Excited. And the Yankees and Giants open tonight. our friends at Netflix are the ones who have it um so there's that Yankees Giants tonight first pitch five o 'clock pacific in San Francisco California and uh I'm pumped I'm I'm fired up I'm pumped up I almost said I'm pumped up I'm pumped up yeah yeah yeah I like it yeah Did I just came up with a word?

6:32Rich Eisen:I think you did. I think we just Rich Eisen show a new word. I'm thumped up, man. This is great. It's thumping great. I'm front-loading the angst and disappointment. You're going to be disappointed this year. You think so, huh? Of course. You've already given up hope? Yeah. I've not given up hope. As you know, I think we had a last longer competition that we sparked here yesterday. And you didn't even take your Mets. You took the Yankees. Well, I don't want to put any added pressure on us. That's so lame, by the way. By the way, did you see the Yankees put out a hype video? Because they're thumped up too, I guess.

7:13Rich Eisen:Thumped up. And part of the video from last year was Max Fried throwing one of his midnight to six curveballs and got Soto looking. And Soto responded on it that he's living rent free. i gotta say he's living rent free team soto here you don't stop talking about that guy well because he he lives rent free no no no living rent free in my head is me talking about him still because he's performing so well well that he was he was awesome last year what well for two months he was beyond terrible and as a matter of fact you know his living rent free in his head in those first two months of the season was Aaron Judge not being the guy hitting behind him to the point where it created a big time kerfuffle and back pages in New York.

8:05Rich Eisen:But be that as it may, be that as it may, there's one team in the American League that baseball chose to put on a new stage and a big stage, an opening day stage on the new stage on Netflix. So there's that tonight. And I have a top five list. San Francisco Giants. Well, I said American League. Oh, interesting. Okay, just listen when I talk. That'd be great. Blinded by your shirt. That'd be great. I have a top five list here. Top five things I'm looking forward to seeing the most this Major League Baseball season. Hit it, please. High five. One, two, three, four, five. All right, here are my top five things I'm looking forward to seeing the most this MLB season presented by our friends at Hyundai.

8:59Rich Eisen:All right, number five right here to kick things off, or I guess my first pitch here. Who is the baseball Cinderella? We are seeing it more often than not, where I understand there are probably, what would you say, a third of the league's fan bases are like, yeah, we got no shot. Yeah, maybe more. But you never know anymore, okay? At this point last year, if I said the team that was going to take the Los Angeles Dodgers to the brink would be the Toronto Blue Jays, you'd have been like, really? You know, there's every year, like the Texas Rangers won the World Series a couple years ago. All right?

9:42Rich Eisen:I mean, one never knows anymore. I mean, we're assuming there's going to be a bunch of the familiar faces and subjects at the end of the day. But who's it going to be? Could it be the Diamondbacks this year? And I only say that because I saw them at Craig's last night. About eight of them. All of them sitting right there. And they looked like they were having fun. They're ready to roll. Arenado and Carroll or whatever. Could be our Royals. Vinny and Bobby Witt. Royals are kind of a sneaky pick right now. All right, Garcia. I mean, they had a great world baseball class. They did. Could the Royals do something here?

10:18Rich Eisen:Caglione. All right. And I'm saying that even, and I'm not just trying to, you know, cater to Vinny Pasquantino because I know he's unboxing his new television right now. He's probably not hearing what I'm saying. He just texted that to me. I know, this is the group. The Tigers, the Mariners last year, the Big Dumper went on a nice run. Scooble, as we all know, has 200 million reasons to pitch very well this year. Who's the baseball Cinderella for this baseball season? That's number five on my list. Could it possibly be number four? Because number four is a simple one. Paul Skeens, everything Paul Skeens.

10:58Rich Eisen:Every last pitch. Agreed. Every last move, every last post by either Skeens or Libby Dunn, anything that I know I am. I know you are, TJ. I know you are, Chris. And I know you are, Jason Feller, as well, even though I don't know how the hell they could. Well, what do you mean? Maybe he could defer, you know, 99 % of his salary, too. I don't know. But we're all looking at just how happy he is. because also take a look at this right here. Look at all these photographs of him pitching in front of empty seats. You know what I'm saying? So it's still a while until he can pop free, but one never knows.

11:44Rich Eisen:Everything Paul schemes, every start, every pitch, all of it. I just can't wait to see potentially just how dominant he might be at the end of the day. Number three on the list, this is for me. This is for me, but we are everywhere. you know, whenever I travel, I see the Yankee hats everywhere. Number three is, will this be the year it all clicks for the Yankees? I just don't know. I don't know. Right now, Cole and Radon are hurt. Luis Heal is apparently starting on the minors, maybe just because they don't have, you know, they don't need him right now. Let's get him some innings where he's going to be.

12:22Rich Eisen:Could Judge actually do it again? And then will they get to the postseason? We assume they will. And then what happens when that happens? Who the hell is going to get on base for Judge at the top of the order? Aaron Boone, can he get it all clicking? They have a very good team. Can it be great? Can they get back to the World Series? Can they win it all? That's number three. Number two is obvious. Who can take down the Dodgers? Yep. Nobody. I don't know about that, Harbaugh. I don't know about that. Literally a replay away from losing last year. Yeah, I know. A toenail. An IKF toenail. Get a lead off third, bro.

13:01Rich Eisen:Oh, my God. Who's it going to be? Could it be someone in the National League that just even prevents them from getting to the World Series again? Will we see a three-peat? Who can take down the Dodgers? Who can beat them? I mean, they just seem to get healthier and better. Healthier in terms of their pitching staff. Better in terms of their hitting and lineup. Kyle Tucker's joined the team now. Just doesn't seem fair. And certainly everybody else in Los Angeles could care less that anybody else thinks it's unfair. Accurate. Christopher, are you ready for it? When is that moment? Do we have it pinpointed during the season when Mookie Betts is a more tenured Dodger than he ever was a Red Sox?

13:46Rich Eisen:Oh, good question, man. We'd look that up where that sort of Wilford Brimley line is going to be here. It's this year, which is kind of a... It is. At some point this year, Betts will be a Dodger longer than he ever was a Red Sox. Crazy. Like Vinatieri being a Colt longer than a Patriot. Yeah, that's right. Holmgren being a Seahawks coach longer than he was a Packer. You being somebody older than Wilford Brimley was when he was in Cocoon. I'm still in my 40s, thank you. number one without a doubt the thing that i'm looking forward to seeing the most in this major league baseball season is the abs system how does it affect things what is gonna happen when everybody's tapping their helmets and who's gonna tap it first and who's gonna tap it from the mound and piss off the hitters saying you just used one of my abs challenges because i see the plate better than you do 60 feet, six inches away.

14:42Rich Eisen:I'm right on top of the damn thing. Who's going to use it early and then you don't have it late anymore? Who's just going to use it at all? How accurate is it going to be for hitters to use? What's going to happen in the ninth inning? Game over. Strike three. Wait a minute. Tap in the helmet. Nope. Game's still going. Home run. What's going to happen when its base is loaded? Tie game. What's going to be a walk-off ABS moment? These are all going to happen. Just again, the World Baseball Classic had it at it. There was a man on third with two outs. Mason Miller gets strike three. If there was an ABS, it would have been men on first and third and no celebration for Team USA until maybe the next hitter or whatever.

15:25Rich Eisen:That was against the Dominican Republic, if you recall. It's going to happen. It's going to go down. And how will you like it? Will you be sitting there saying, I wish it was the old days. We don't have this stuff. Or you'll be like, thank goodness for it. And it's going to be great to see what the fan and player and coaches and managers and umpire reactions and analysts reactions. It's going to be a thing. And that's number one on the top five things I'm looking forward to seeing. All right. All right. We'll get one. I'll give you one more right here. And it's another simple one. The season itself.

16:03Rich Eisen:Because winter is coming. I don't want to be that guy. Yeah. I don't want to be that guy. I know, but it's looming. It's kind of a cloud hanging over everything. Because some teams are going to want a salary cap. Some teams who are in baseball are looking at the Dodger payroll and saying this is just not fair. And the Dodgers will probably be like tough. And there's going to be – the problem is there's going to be some discord within ownership. ship and if they're not united how can they go to the union with a proposal and if they ever go to the union with a proposal saying we want a hard cap like everybody else then winter will arrive i think it's just that simple and i don't know how it's going to all play out at the end of the day but all i'm basically saying is as i am uh um getting set for baseball is enjoy every moment i hope they don't do the stupid thing and kill kill what's gotten much better and much more enjoyable and I can't wait for this major league baseball season that's my top five things I'm looking forward to seeing the most this MLB season presented by Hyundai get into the Hyundai getaway sales event and get away with the deal so right it almost feels wrong visit HyundaiUSA.com for details 844-204-RICH is that number to dial Jamal Mashburn is going to be joining us next Kentucky Wildcat NBA All-Star and now a terrific college basketball analyst next.

17:38Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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20:22Rich Eisen:yeah i'm all mashburn here on the rich eisen show our radio audience is joined we're one big happy streaming television and uh broadcast radio family right here dude i'm really loving watching you play uh talk right now i'm really seriously you're excellent at it you you really are you make me smarter and you're you're having fun it seems um what what what do you think about when you're watching Rick Pitino doing what he's doing with St. John, since he was the guy who I imagine was the one who recruited you to Kentucky out of the Bronx. Yeah, so me and Coach Pitino relationship goes all the way back to Providence.

21:04When he was there, actually a gentleman at Cardinal Hayes, Darrell Walker, played for him at Providence. Coach Pitino started recruiting me when he saw me at Five Star Camp in Homesdale, New York, and he would give like individual instruction stuff. And then Herb Sendak took over. He was on that staff and Billy Donovan and Tubby Smith. So I've been around some great coaches, but watching Coach Pitino, I'm not surprised at all. I think he's one of the greatest coaches of all time. And I had the fortune and the pros to play for another great coach in Pat Riley, similar but different. I would say Coach Pitino is more of a teacher and Pat Riley's more of the CEO of the club.

21:48But what Coach Pitino is doing with what he has is not typical in his style of play. Usually he has three-point shooters. People forget that Coach Pitino ushered in the era of the three-point shot when he was at Providence and then also at Kentucky as well. Their team is more physical, thrown up on the glass. forwards, Zuby Echafor, Mitchell and Hopkins. They don't shoot the three very well. And it's a little bit difficult for me to watch sometimes since I'm a skilled guy, but he gets it done. And one thing you know about Coach Pitino is that he's going to teach his guys. He's going to have them tough.

22:29He's going to have them well conditioned and they're going to get better throughout the season because he does something I would say that's unique for college coaches. He does individual instruction, which is a skill development program throughout the week with his players separate from practice.

22:44Rich Eisen:Yeah, old school, wearing a suit and tie still out there on the – He's not going to get away from that. You know what I mean? He's not going to get away. Even when he was in Greece coaching Pantheon Icos and I went out there to support him over there, he was still wearing a suit and tie. He just loves the game. I mean, 70-something years old with all that energy, you know, we should be kind of just in awe of him right now of what he's doing with St. John's and turning that program. It's akin to when I went to the university of Kentucky and turned that program around with him. Well, you did. And now St.

23:18Rich Eisen:John's takes on Duke Jamal, you know, I don't know if you heard what Patino said after the game where St. John's knocked off Kansas on a buzzer beater Jamal, right? where he basically said maybe we could beat, you know, Duke at the buzzer. He's not forgetting it either. What's your memories of that moment, Jamal? I haven't forgotten it at all. I mean, a good friend of mine, Grant Hill, we remained friends because we were close when we were 13 years old and we started on a circuit together, him being Virginia, me being from New York. I haven't forgotten Grant Hill's past. I think it was the Spectrum at the time.

24:01And one thing I do recall about that game, which kind of sticks with me in a good way, was that you had two Hall of Fame coaches and Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Pitino really take a step back and let the players play. And at a high level game, they didn't just insert themselves to call plays and different things like that. They managed the game and let the players play. I think a lot of people consider it probably the best college basketball game ever played. But from Cospatino's standpoint and the St. John's, I hope he gets a victory. That's just my side of being in a relationship with him. But on-air analyst, it's going to be difficult, you know, looking at Cameron Boozer and everything that Duke does.

24:49They pretty much match up well against the front line of St. John's. And one thing that I'm going to be looking for is can St. John's knock down the three point shot? But they have to be careful of taking so many threes because their advantage would be getting to the free throw line and rebounding on the glass.

25:07Rich Eisen:Here's that soundbite I was referring to, Jamal. Check it out. You win some, you lose some. And I'm hoping we can get Duke at the buzzer next to make up for that Christian late in the shot. you know it's and that's something for him but that's nothing for me so i don't know i don't know how to feel about that you know what i mean but but it's uh you know um i know he's a competitor and everything like that you know um it's an interesting one put it like that yeah do you relive it if you don't mind asking me about reliving it like where you would have, what, guarded the inbound pass? You know, like what would you have done?

25:50Rich Eisen:If you could go back and wave a wand right now, Jamal? If I could go back, I probably wouldn't file out of the game, first of all. But it's number one, right. Yeah, I would take that. And I would say if I didn't file out of the game, we probably would have had a different outcome. And people fail to remember in that particular game, Christian Laettner was 10 for 10 from the field and 10 for 10 from the free throw line. And if anybody remembers anything about that era, the Duke team with Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill and all those guys, they were reminiscent of the Chicago Bulls of college basketball.

26:22You know, it was a it was a show that they put on in every venue that they came to. And nobody could touch Christian Laettner. There was no foul. You remember him stepping on a medium Timberlake's chest? I thought he should have got ejected. I would wave the wand on that one as well. You know, so even before the putting a man on bounds, If you look at Pelfrey and Feldhaus, they did not want to touch Christian Laettner at that particular time. I thought somebody should have played defensive back back there and kind of gotten away of the past. But you can see the apprehension in their body language of staying away from Christian Laettner because he was the Michael Jordan of college basketball at that time.

27:01Rich Eisen:Jamal Mashburn, TNT Sports right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Outside of Duke, St. John's, you got Michigan State and UConn in the same building as well. What a night that is going to be. How do you see that matchup playing out? Well, you know what? With UConn, I kind of looked at it. We covered them all year because on TNT, we had the Big 12 and also the Big East. And so we've watched them throughout the time. My one question about UConn is, you know, are they going to be healthy? Silas Demery was limping around the point guard there. But he played. How healthy are they going to be and how deep can they be?